Desert Rose
by silver-fox-kitsune
Summary: The Battle City tournament is about to start and there's a new girl in town. Who is she and why does she hold a Millennium Item, which she seems not to know has mystical powers. And what's she got to do with Marik?
1. First Day

"Desert Rose" by silverfoxkitsune

Disclaimer: I don't own Marik (especially Marik) or Yu-Gi-Oh!!!!! What do you think I am crazy???!!!! The only characters I made are Akila and a few others, thank you very much.

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Everything was dark. Akila ran as fast as she could. She didn't know why, but a sense of overwhelming terror surrounded her. Bounding forward, she glanced over her shoulder and crashed straight into something. She looked up and stared into lavender eyes. She tried to scream but nothing came out, as if her throat was being squeezed tight. Someone grabbed her wrist and started to pull her deeper into the shadows._"Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep!!!!!"_

"Ouch!!!" Akila opened her eyes. She was lying on the floor of her bedroom, her alarm above her ringing on her bedside table. She must've fallen out of bed. Sighing, she got up and looked at the clock. 8:20 A.M.!!! She was going to be late for school!!! Not on her first day to attend!!!

She hurriedly made her bed and put her school uniform on, then rushed downstairs. Her adopted parents sat at the table, both of them drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. Her mother looked up as Akila appeared from upstairs, hopping on one foot to put her shoe on, and smiled. Akila quickly poured herself some cereal and orange juice.

"Mom!!! Why didn't you wake me up????"

"I told you to reset your alarm clock," said Akila's mother, wagging a finger at her.

Akila sighed and gulped down her breakfast. Grabbing her backpack, she shot out the front door, her parents calling behind her, "Have a nice day at school!"

Akila raced down the middle of the street, not caring if cars honked at her or passer-bys stared. Her new high school wasn't far away. If she hurried, she'd make it on time. She put on an extra burst of speed.

Soon, Domino High loomed above her. Darting up the street and onto the school grounds, she burst through the front double doors. She desperately looked for room 330. 8:33!!! Two more minutes left!!! Akila bolted down the hall, finally finding her room. She threw open the door and sat down just as the bell rang.

Akila sighed in relief as the teacher, Ms. Tynamie walked in. "Settle down class!!! Time to take role!!! Bakura, Ryou!"

"Here!"

"Devlin, Duke!"

"What!?"

"Motou, Yugi!"

"Here!"

"Taylor, Tristan!"

"Who, me? I'm here!"

"Wheeler, Joseph!"

"That's Joey!!!!!"

"Yes, Joseph, we all know that. Now, class, we'd like to welcome a new student. Akila Stanford, please come forward."

Akila stepped forward, blushing. "Class this is Akila. She's just moved here from Egypt, so let's make her feel like she's at home."

Suddenly, someone started laughing really hard, which set the whole class sniggering. "Excuse me Ms. Stanford, but your uniform is inside-out." Akila blushed so hard she went as red as a tomato.

Ms. Tynamie permitted Akila to go to the bathroom to fix her skirt. Akila dashed to the bathroom, rushing into a stall and fixing her uniform.

"_How could I have been such an idiot? On my first day too!!!_" thought Akila washing her hands and looking into the bathroom mirror.

"Ummm. . .excuse me." Akila heard a voice behind her. She spun around to face a girl around her age, with brown hair and blue eyes. "Hi, my name's Tea," said the girl. "I think you were really brave to stand up in front of the class like that."

"Well. . .thanks. . .Tea," said Akila.

"Come on, Akila, I wanna show you to my friends!" said Tea, grabbing Akila's hand and pulling her out of the bathroom and down the hall.

"Ummmm, ok. . ." said Akila, sweatdropping as she was lead down the hall. Tea led Akila to where a group of boys were lounging, waiting for their next classes to begin.

One boy who had blond hair was strutting around and flapping his arms like a chicken. "So, good imitation of Kaiba, eh?" The other boys laughed as the boy continued his charade.

"Hi guys!" said Tea as she walked up to them with Akila.

"Hi, Tea," said a boy with yellow and red spiked hair. "Who's that?"

"Everyone this is Akila. She just moved here from Egypt," announced Tea.

"Hey you're the one who had the 'accident' this morning!!!" cried the blond haired boy.

"Don't mind Joey," said Tea, elbowing Joey in the side. "This is Ryou Bakura. Just call him Bakura." A boy with white hair and brown eyes waved at Akila. "This is Duke Devlin and Tristan Taylor." Two boys came forward, one with brown hair and the other with black hair and green eyes.

"Hi," they said at the same time, extending their hands. Turning, they yelled at each other. "Hey I saw her first! "No, I did! "I did!" "Man, when ever I see a pretty girl you're always flirting!" "Look who's talking. . ."

Tea and Akila turned to the boy with spiked hair. "And this," said Tea, "Is Yugi Motou."

"Hi Akila," said Yugi warmly.

"Nice to meet you, Yugi," replied Akila, shaking Yugi's hand.

"So you just moved here from Egypt? Do you know anything about duel monsters?" asked Yugi, smiling.

"DUEL MONSTERS! I LOVE THAT GAME!!!" screamed Akila, covering her mouth with her hand as everyone turned to look at her. "Erm. . .sorry. . .yes, I know the game. I used to play it a lot back in Egypt," said Akila blushing a little.

"Great!" exclaimed Yugi, "We were all gonna go over to my house and play duel monsters, tonight, and you're welcome to come!"

"Wow, sure! I'll come!!!"

"All right, another person I can duel!" cried Joey happily.

"Or another person who can kick your butt in a duel. . ." muttered Duke.

"Say what?!" said Joey just as the bell rang, warning them to get to their next classes.

"Ok, Akila, meet us at the front of the school when school's out, ok?!" called Yugi as he walked away with his friends.

"Ok!!!!!!' cried Akila waving to them as she headed down the hall.

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Ok, that's the first page of my fanfic. Please rate!!!!!!!!!! 


	2. The Flute

Ok here's the second chapter of my fanfic. _Note: I'm gonna say this before I forget; I may skip some parts of Battle City, because I'm gonna write this all the way through to the semi-finals. Ok? Thanks.

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Akila stood in the front of the school, the wind rustling her reddish-brown hair softly. School had just ended and hundreds of students were pouring out of the school grounds.

"Hey, Akila!"

Akila turned to see Yugi running towards her, his friends trailing not far behind.

"You ready to duel?" asked Yugi smiling up at Akila.

"Yep," said Akila, shouldering her backpack just as Tea and the others arrived.

"Let's get going!" cried Joey and they all moved away off the school grounds and down the street. It was a beautiful day in Domino. The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

"So, Akila how long have you--" asked Duke, inching closer to Akila only to pushed aside by Tristan.

"Hey, Akila do you have any rare cards?" He blocked Duke from Akila's view.

"Oh my god! I forgot that I left my dueling deck at home!"

"That's ok," said Tea smiling, "Even though my deck isn't the best, you can borrow it."

"Thanks a lot, Tea!" said Akila, taking Tea's deck.

Finally, they stopped in front of a duel monsters shop. "Well, this it," said Yugi walking through the front door, Akila and the others following behind him. "Grandpa, we're here!" called Yugi and an old man with gray hair and purple eyes similar to Yugi's looked up from behind a counter.

"Hey grandpa," said Yugi as he pulled Akila up to the counter. "This is Akila Stanford. She just moved here from Egypt."

"Hmmm. . ." Yugi's grandfather looked at Akila up and down. "Egypt. . .beautiful place. . .Well, nice to meet you, Akila," he said smiling.

"And you too," said Akila returning his smile.

"Come on, Akila!" said Yugi, grabbing her arm as he ran up a pair of stairs where the others had gone.

It was late that night when the group stopped dueling. Everyone was impressed with Akila's dueling skills.

"Hey, thanks again for the deck," said Akila handing the cards back to Tea, as they all headed out the front door.

"No prob!" said Tea smiling.

"Ok, well goodnight, you guys!"

"Ya, see you tomorrow, man!"

"Goodbye!"

"Bye Akila! You have my phone number don't yo--"

"You gave her your _what_?"

"Nothing, Tristan. . ."

Akila sighed, looking up at the star studded sky.

"Akila?" Yugi's voice snapped her back to the present. "Do you need a ride home or something?" he came to stand next to her.

"No, I'll be ok," she said smiling at him. "By the way, I had a lot of fun tonight."

"I'm glad," said Yugi as he watched Akila walk away into the night.

Akila strode down the street in the light of the street lamps, under the darkened night sky. As she walked home, she was oblivious to the shadows that watched her every move from the cover of the night.

The next morning Akila woke up on time and dressed into her uniform. She put her dueling deck in her pocket just in case any of the others wanted to duel with her. She stopped as she put on a necklace, which from a rare Egyptian crystal hung and picked up a peculiar golden flute. The flute had a strange eye carved into the mouthpiece and it was only one foot long.

These were the two items she'd had for as long as she could remember. Long before she was adopted, long before she had lived in the orphanage, long before that which she couldn't remember. . .Tears filled her eyes as she thought about where she had come from and who her real parents were. But mostly why she couldn't remember it.

"_No not again_," she thought brushing the tears away, "_Crying will never bring the memories back._" She put the flute in her backpack and headed down the stairs to an empty dining room. Her parents were probably still asleep. Akila ate her breakfast in silence and headed out the door for Domino High.

"NO! NO! NO! For the last time Thomas, you play an A on the trombone like this!" growled Akila's orchestra teacher, Mr. Kin, showing the panting boy how to play the note. "Ok, good job, Rossiter. Next, Ms. Stanford, please come up!" said Mr. Kin dismissing Thomas and beckoning towards Akila.

"_Oh boy, here I go_," thought Akila, getting up and taking out her flute. Mr. Kin gestured for her to sit down on a stool across from his desk as he asked, "So, Akila you play the. . .?"

"Flute," Akila finished sitting down and holding it up.

"Hmmm. . .Are you sure you can play this thing?" he said inspecting the flute. Akila nodded. "Alright, let's hear what you got," said Mr. Kin, picking up his pencil and evaluation sheet.

Akila put the flute to her lips and closing her eyes, let the music flow. She gave her heart out as she played every note she knew. When she stopped and opened her eyes, Mr. Kin's eyes were watering and everyone in the room was staring at her, shocked.

"H-how long have you been playing?" asked Mr. Kin, his hand shaking as he cleaned his glasses.

"For a long time," said Akila truthfully.

"Well. . .that was fantastic!" said Mr. Kin, placing his glasses back on his nose. "Clearly you should be placed in advanced orchestra, not beginning!"

"But I only played certain notes!" protested Akila

"But Akila, I can tell just by those notes, your skills are far more extreme for you to be in beginning orchestra!" said Mr. Kin as he called the next student to evaluate. Akila got up and sat in a corner, trying to be as unnoticeable as possible until her next class.

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There you go. End of 2nd chapter. 


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